Orthosis

Abstract

An orthosis for supporting the foot, in particular when the foot is paralysed by lesions of the peroneal muscle or nerve, consists of a calf-supporting rail and of a foot support interconnected at the height of the ankle by a joint whose axis of rotation is substantially perpendicular to the side surface of the foot and which contains a spring whose resilient force acts to raise the front of the foot.

I claim: 
     
       1. An orthotic device for supporting a person's foot, such as in cases of paralyses, said orthotic device comprising: calf splint means;   foot support means for supporting a foot of a person;   spring means for biassing the foot of a person for movement of toes of the foot in an upward direction; and,   hinge means and a housing therefor, said hinge means being connected to said calf splint means and including a spring drill recess space internally around said housing of said hinge means in which said spring means is housed, with a first end of said spring means being attached at a rotation axis of said hinge means, as being adapted for being received in said recess space, and a second end of said spring means being affixable to a side wall of said housing of said hinge means via radial drill-holes, with the initial tension of said spring means being changeable in that, at least, one end of said spring means is affixable at different points, and said rotation axis of said hinge means being attached, at one end, to said foot support means.   
     
     
       2. The orthotic device for supporting a person's foot according to claim 1, wherein spring power of said spring means increases superproportionally with deflection of said spring means. 
     
     
       3. The orthotic device for supporting a person's foot according to claim 1, wherein said spring means is a coil spring and a central point of said coil spring lies on the rotation axis. 
     
     
       4. The orthotic device for supporting a person's foot according to claim 1, wherein said spring means is a helical spring having spring power which acts substantially tangentially in relation to the rotation axis upon a radial bar. 
     
     
       5. The orthotic device according to claim 4, wherein the initial tension of said spring means is further changeable through a screw by means of which the length of said spring means is capable of being shortened or extended in the direction of the spring power. 
     
     
       6. The orthotic device according to claim 5, wherein said screw axially in said spring means.